It was an earworm before the phrase was coined, and chances are it was the first song you ever learned. But, apparently, some things aren’t sacred. Most of us know it as “the alphabet song,” or the “ABC song,” even though its 1835 copyrighted title is “The A.B.C., a German air with variations for the flute with an easy accompaniment for the piano forte.” Parents have sung the song to countless children as a lullaby and as a fun way to teach letters in the English alphabet. While the song has some flaws as a tool to teach children, a lot of people on Twitter and Facebook got P.O.’d about an ABC remix.
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With more than 101,000 Likes, clearly many on social media are willing to overlook the observation from some educators that the rapid-fire LMNOP sequence makes it more difficult for young learners to hear and see each letter. The alternative version, posted on the Dream English Kids YouTube Channel, which creates “fun, catchy songs for children’s education and learning English,” changes the melody’s rhythm, to provide equal time for L-M-N-O-P, which alters the duration of all the letters after P. Some educators have applauded the new version, but as is often the case, social media “outrage” was much louder. Of course, social media reaction from users in the U.S. has been vociferous, probably not realizing most English speaking countries sing the last letter as Zed, and that people in those countries live with the fact that it doesn’t rhyme with V.
